HUMADIVI

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Investigation report into allision published

The 'Humadivi' appeared to have had pieces of mooring ropes in both the ship's propeller and the bow thruster at the time of the allision on Oct 12, 2024, with the Borgharen weir in the Maas. Because the ship got stuck in the weir, shipping traffic was disrupted for a week and the water level on the canalised river dropped sharply. The investigation results of the allision were published today in the half-yearly overview of shipping accidents by the Dutch Safety Board: "When investigating the ship, a piece of mooring rope was found in both the propellers and the bow thruster. It is not clear when this mooring rope ended up in the propeller. The skipper did not notice that there was anything in the propellers prior to the allision with the weir; they seemed to be functioning normally." The final conclusion is: “It is therefore not possible to state with certainty what caused the ship to stop at the Noorder bridge and to drift to the buoy line. Video images showed that both the propulsion and the rudder were still in use just before.” Based on the results of the exploratory investigation, it was decided to stop the investigation. The 'Humadivi' was sailing from Bosscherveld towards Belgium with a cargo of sand and got stuck in the weir around 8:30 a.m. During the days before, there had been a lot of rain in the source area of ​​the Maas, which meant that the water level and current were high for the time of year. At the Noorder bridge in Maastricht, the ship lost all speed. Subsequently, it turned around the bridge pillar as a result of the current, after which it sailed downstream towards the Juliana canal. However, at the Borgharen weir, the ship drifted towards the buoy line. In response, the crew attempted to reach the right bank next to the weir, but failed. The ship got stuck with its stern under the shipping opening of the weir, which was partially open at the time. As a result, the ship took on water and partially sank. One of the crew members was able to jump from the ship to the shore, the other crew member was safely taken off by the fire brigade. The salvage operation was difficult. It was not until Oct 18 that the ship was successfully pumped out, partially unloaded and pulled out from under the weir. Due to the almost week-long opening of the weir, the water level in the Maas had dropped considerably, which caused problems for nearby houseboats and harbours. After the ship was removed, the weir could be closed again. The water level then recovered, after which shipping could be resumed on Oct 19.The skipper has sailed on various tankers throughout the Netherlands for more than 12 years, including on the Maas. At the time of the allision, he had been sailing as skipper of the 'Humadivi' for 12 days. Before that, he had sailed with the ship for two weeks to get to know it. During that time, the same route was always covered. The day before the incident, the ship was already near the weir. The skipper then waited a day before leaving for Belgium, precisely because of the high water level. No indications were found of technical problems with the ship, which was inspected by a Dutch inspection agency in 2022.